Cuba recovered to win the bronze medal

LIMA, Peru, August 6, 2017 – Cuba recovered to defeat Peru 3-1 (22-25, 25-15, 25-17, 25-20) and claiming the bronze medal of the U18 Final Four Herbalife Cup at Manuel Bonilla Coliseum of Miraflores, Lima.

The individual scoring was led by outside hitter Ailama Cese with 16 points, followed by Elizabeth Vicet with 15 and Thalia Moreno with 14. For Peru, Kiara Montes and Thaisa Mc Leod scored 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Tomas Fernández, coach of Cuba: In the first set they started cold, we didn’t warm up enough. Peru is a team with a masterful tactic and defense, but when we started to climb in the score they could not react. My team came from less to more and everything we learned will be of benefit for the world championship.

Elizabeth Vicet, captain of Cuba: After not qualifying to the final, it was important for us to go home with the bronze medal because it gives us more motivation for what we want to do in the world championship to get the best possible result.

Marco Queiroga, coach of Peru: Last year when we lost the South American, we knew we had to work in the reception and we did that for the whole year because the serve is very strong. Today we could not get rid of the base reception and we were not able to define in the attack.

Flavia Montes, captain of Peru: We have had a learning experience in this Final Four, a very important experience. We committed errors but it was better it happened here and not in the world championship where we want to be among the top eight.